For the previous 12 months, I have been studying Morse Code. This will be a short recap of that year.
First, a bit of motivation: After getting into amateur radio I started looking for some operating mode that makes sense under not-so-optimal antenna conditions, and there it was: CW (Morse Code “Continuous Wave”).
di-dah-di-dit
(that’s an ‘L’)
A Systematic Approach
At first I found it hard to believe anyone could recognize all 26 letters of the alphabet just by their distinct sound. I did try a few apps and methods on my own at first. The one thing I found really hard was staying motivated while only listening to characters over and over again, as suggested by most of the guides that I found at the time.
When Josh, KI6NAZ on Youtube published a video about the Long Island CW Club, saying they would teach Morse Code not simply by making you listen to sounds, but would also encourage you to send using an actual key, I was convinced I found a format that would work for me. Their classes are run online via Zoom and are therefore accessible to people all over the world. Classes are fairly spread over the entire day so it is easy for us in Europe to find suitable slots.
Therefore, on October 10th last year, I joined LICW and started taking their online beginner classes. Looking back, learning to recognize the first 18 letters of the alphabet at slow speeds (8-10 words per minute, WPM) took me until January this year. In April, I could already copy the entire alphabet and the numbers 0-9 at speeds up to 12 WPM.
During that time I did about twenty minutes of copy exercise on my own every day, in addition to attending classes once or twice a week.
Within about half a year, I achieved what seemed impossible at first: being able to distinguish all letters of the alphabet, and even more. This was possible because of the nice LICW instructors, their well-crafted curriculum and amazingly positive attitude towards learning.
You guys are awesome!
The Two Goals: CW Contesting & Fluent Conversations
At 12 words per minute, LICW is not over - it is just the beginning. After six months, I’ve advanced from Beginner 1 through 2 and 3 classes, and then to Intermediate 1 and 2. I am now one year in, yet there is still so much room to get better; just amazing.
I am struggling with some of the letters and numbers still; not all of them come up as easily as others when I listen to their sound. So that is what I’m working on at the moment; keeping up daily practice to reach a state where I wouldn’t count any of the dits and dahs anymore - everything needs to be happening in the subconscious part of the mind.
In parallel to LICW classes I think it is valuable to aim at certain goals, therefore I’m trying to get into CW contesting as well. Speeds are much higher than what I’m used to copying but the amount of information exchanged is rather small. It is a challenge for sure.
In addition, I’d like to get better at listening to actual human conversations in CW, preferably head-copying words and not just individual characters.
For both goals, I’m listening to Morse Code Ninja recordings whenever I can, at different speeds, to improve my head-copy skills. I am focusing on callsigns and common QSO words for the moment.
The Keys
To keep it fun, I’m playing with different keys and gadgets as well. For classes, I’ve been using a Junker straight key for most of the time. Slowly, I’m getting used to a Bencher iambic paddle as well. I have started using it in some classes and on the air, just for fun. I do believe a paddle is the more ergonomic way to send CW, but at the same time being able to handle the straight key is a valuable skill on its own.